Five minutes of hate news

bintananth

behind a desk
And yet despite all that, it was worth doing. the lesson of sci fi is that those should be forbidden technologies who will only bring harm.
But in reality, despite the risks, despite the losses, it was enormously beneficial and worth doing
Something extremely dangerous can also be extremely beneficial. Take hydrogen peroxide, for example.

You can buy it at practically any pharmacy or convience store and it's used for things like household cleaining, disinfecting wounds, and bleaching hair.

It's also been used as the oxidizer in rocket motors, some of which did not have a fuel, because it's much easier to handle than liquid oxygen. The 1270°C cloud of steam and hot oxygen out, about, and looking for an excuse to cause trouble is not fun. With high-test H2O2 it doesn't take much before you're dialing 911 and requesting paramedics.

NOTE: The 2H2O2 -> 2H2O + 2O2 reaction has enough "omph" to make things go suborbital all by itself before the oxygen sets anything on fire.
 
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Cherico

Well-known member
And yet despite all that, it was worth doing. the lesson of sci fi is that those should be forbidden technologies who will only bring harm.
But in reality, despite the risks, despite the losses, it was enormously beneficial and worth doing

its a balance when new tech comes out you shouldnt let huberius and ego control you, and you shouldn't ban it out of hand. The problem is humans are bad at balance.
 

bintananth

behind a desk
And yet despite all that, it was worth doing. the lesson of sci fi is that those should be forbidden technologies who will only bring harm.
But in reality, despite the risks, despite the losses, it was enormously beneficial and worth doing
Asbestos is lung cancer fog when it's airborne. It is also one of the best ways to insulate a powerplant's high temperature steam lines.

"Cost, quality, and time." An engineer only gets two on a good day and has to pick their poison when wading into something.
 
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bintananth

behind a desk
Zombie Spider Bots

Just because you can do something, it doesn't mean you should do that thing. If something sounds like scenario of a horror movie, DON'T FUCKING DO IT!!!!!
That sounds similar to the first rule of engineering fieldwork: "If you don't know exactly what you're doing DON'T TOUCH IT!"
 

The Whispering Monk

Well-known member
Osaul
All they're doing is using hydraulics to manipulate the spider's limbs. It's how they spider moves them when it's alive, and the scientist is just replicating that. Frankly, it's something I would expect of a highschool science fair project to freek out the teachers.
 

Morphic Tide

Well-known member
All they're doing is using hydraulics to manipulate the spider's limbs. It's how they spider moves them when it's alive, and the scientist is just replicating that. Frankly, it's something I would expect of a highschool science fair project to freek out the teachers.
Granted, it seems fairly controllable, unlike basic galvanism, and has a good deal more use-cases than wiring up a frog due to the structures being much easier to reinforce. A baby-step towards larger scale biotech.
 

Abhorsen

Local Degenerate
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Comrade
Osaul
Someone abusing their connection with the police to attack a business owner...because their batmobile was delayed due to non-payment. All those involves need to go to go to jail.
Qualified immunity means that even a lawsuit against them will likely fail. Also, they aren't going to jail. On a related note, Tucker lied to everyone about what qualified immunity was, and is a pretty prominent reason we still have it and didn't legislate it away in the wake of the George Floyd riots.
 

Hlaalu Agent

Nerevar going to let you down
Founder
Qualified immunity means that even a lawsuit against them will likely fail. Also, they aren't going to jail. On a related note, Tucker lied to everyone about what qualified immunity was, and is a pretty prominent reason we still have it and didn't legislate it away in the wake of the George Floyd riots.

They crossed state lines, I thought you Americans had a special clause about actions that cross state lines.
 

The Whispering Monk

Well-known member
Osaul
Actually, they don't qualify for qualified immunity because they were outside any recognized jurisdiction. This means they are just private citizens as their badge holds no sway outside of their County. Thus they weren't actually Officers of the Law when they visited this garage.

I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that could be a definite means of going after them.

Though I'd still give them the discount for police at Arby's...if I still worked at one.
 

Abhorsen

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They crossed state lines, I thought you Americans had a special clause about actions that cross state lines.
They legally crossed state lines. Everything they did was fine with regards to criminal liability. And civil liability will likely be barred by Qualified immunity.

Actually, they don't qualify for qualified immunity because they were outside any recognized jurisdiction. This means they are just private citizens as their badge holds no sway outside of their County. Thus they weren't actually Officers of the Law when they visited this garage.
No, they were acting as cops while they were doing what they were doing. They did a search with a warrant. You can request jurisdiction in places, I'm pretty sure.
 

The Whispering Monk

Well-known member
Osaul
They legally crossed state lines. Everything they did was fine with regards to criminal liability. And civil liability will likely be barred by Qualified immunity.
Sure, they can cross all the state lines they want. Not an issue with them travelling. The issue is that they have no legal authority in the state they travelled to.
They did a search with a warrant.
Who issued the search warrant? If it came from California...same problem. It has no authority in another state UNLESS the local authorities put their stamp on it. Did they?
You can request jurisdiction in places, I'm pretty sure.
Nope, you can request the assistance of the local law enforcement. Your officers will still have no legal authority there. The only exception, to my knowledge, is during an active pursuit that crosses jurisdictions. A Texas State Trooper could chase someone into Utah and make an arrest as long as they are actively pursuing a suspect the ENTIRE time. I believe that's how that works.

If I'm wrong on these points, let me know.
 

Abhorsen

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Who issued the search warrant? If it came from California...same problem. It has no authority in another state UNLESS the local authorities put their stamp on it. Did they?
So I honestly can't tell if they requested any type of local jurisdiction, but it might not matter in regards to qualified immunity. They were acting as government agents despite being clearly outside their jurisdiction and breaking the law in numerous places. If that constitution breaking was novel, they are probably fine civilly.

Obviously, IANAL, so I could be wrong here on all matter of technicalities, but I'm not one to doubt the extent qualified immunity will be stretched to.

You do have a point as to criminal liability though. It turns out they straight up arrested him. Unless they had an agreement for temporary jurisdiction (and that could go either way, depending on the state and a bunch of other stuff, but I doubt it happened), they could be gotten for a false arrest and imprisonment. Basically, a kidnapping charge that they crossed state lines to do so. Obviously, that depends on the particular Indiana state law.
 

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